


Permafrost

by Kiekow



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Depressed Sans, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Other, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 14:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5669161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiekow/pseuds/Kiekow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reader gets careless as they attempt to walk home in a blizzard. The skeleton brothers are worried and Sans ventures out into the storm only to find them cold and unconscious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The blizzard raged on, biting your face with frigid winds. You trudged through the quickly-deepening snow toward Snowdin, your tracks being blown away the moment your foot left them. Your fingers were icicles in your thin gloves and you cursed yourself for not buying warmer ones. You were tempted to remove them to check what color they were, but decided against it. That would only make them worse.

You could feel your mind slowing down and becoming fuzzier. Thinking in full sentences was becoming very difficult. Your legs felt like lead as you walked forward, hoping that you were going in the right direction. ‘I have to be getting close.’

The storm seemed to grow even thicker around you. Lifting your trembling hand in front of your face, you found that it vanished in the snow merely an arm’s length in front of you. You needed to get to the skeleton brothers’ house, and fast.

Your foot gave way under you and you couldn’t process if it was because you slipped or your knee gave out. You scrambled to sit up in the deep, icy frost and failed. Collapsing onto your side, you felt your eyelids get heavier. Sleep was tugging at you and rapidly growing stronger despite your attempts to fight it. ‘Need to get-’ The word you were looking for was lost in the fog encapsulating your brain. Your eyes slid shut. You didn’t have the strength to fight it anymore.

Sans paced nervously around the living room, sending anxious glances at the front door and the storm raging just outside the windows. It wasn’t like you to be this late getting home and the blizzard had him worried. The cold didn’t affect him, but he knew that it could kill humans.  
Even Papyrus, from where he sat on the couch watching one of Mettaton’s shows, fidgeted with the hem of his scarf as he worried about you. “SANS. PERHAPS THE HUMAN IS SPENDING THE NIGHT WITH UNDYNE?”

Sans shook his head. “no way. they’d’ve called if that’s what they were doing.” He turned to watch Papyrus as he continued fidgeting and glancing out the window behind him, completely detached from watching his favorite actor. That was it.  
Sans carelessly kicked off his slippers and tugged on a pair of boots. Gathering an extra coat from the rack by the door, he called out, “i’m going to find _____,” and swung the door open.

The snow piled up outside rushed into the house, leaving what would become a rather large, watery mess in the entrance. But there wasn’t any time to worry about that now. Something was wrong with you and he was going to make sure that you were alright. He fought his way through the ice-laden wind, calling out your name despite knowing that it hardly carried in the strong gusts.

 

He had been wandering around for nearly half an hour and was beginning to lose hope of finding you when his foot connected with something solid underneath the snow. Something blue was buried in it. Sans crouched down and swept the snow aside, revealing the frozen, pale body of a human. They were wearing one of his hoodies. “shit. shitshitshit. _____! hey, _____!” He shook your shoulder, but earned no response. Were you dead? You had frozen to death because he hadn’t gone looking for you earlier. Holding his fingers to the inside of your neck, he could just barely feel the rush of blood under the skin. It was lethargic and shallow, but it was there. You were alive.  
Picking you up, he cradled you in his arms as he prepared to teleport back home. “i’m so, so sorry, _____. i’m so sorry.”

He should’ve been more careful with his magic. Papyrus started when he appeared five feet above the living room floor. His surprised comments remained unsaid when he saw you, shivering and ashen-skinned in his brother’s arms. Sans rushed to place your unconscious form on the couch, the pinpricks of light that usually resided in his eye sockets absent as he struggled to remember what you were supposed to do to frozen humans. Without turning to face his brother, he grinded out, “dry clothes. blankets.”

Papyrus sprinted to gather the requested items, leaving Sans alone in the room with you. He felt so, so guilty for letting this happen to you. You and Papyrus were the most important people in his life and he had failed you. He attempted to push the knowledge that you could still die despite being inside the house to the back of his mind, but it only served to infuriate him. He should have noticed that something was off sooner. He should have given you a phone to take with you to Undyne’s.

He was broken from his inner turmoil by the arrival of Papyrus and a comically large heap of clothes and blankets, including no less than six pairs of hotpants. Assuming that you would like your privacy despite not being conscious, Sans asked Papyrus to go to his room for the time being. Quickly, he removed your soaked and icy clothes, wincing at the color of your fingers underneath the gloves. They probably weren’t supposed to be that color.

Swapping out your frozen clothing for something far warmer and drier, Sans wrapped you in a cocoon of blankets. Your breathing had become deeper, although it still rasped in your throat. It was a sign that you were warming up- something he couldn’t measure for lack of skin. Brushing aside a strand of hair that covered your eyes, he felt his sins weighing on his back. This was all his fault.


	2. Chapter 2

You shivered as you felt something hot being placed on your hands. The stinging pain it caused made you let out a low whimper. It felt like every nerve in your fingertips was on fire.

Your barely-audible complaints caused whoever was holding the hot thing pause. You wished they would just leave. You were sleeping so well, even if your dreams took place in frozen wastelands.

The person began shouting, prompting you to attempt to cover your ears. Your arms wouldn’t move. “SANS! THE HUMAN IS AWAKE!” That voice was familiar. It took all of your willpower to open your eyes, quickly squinting them shut when the light of the room you were in blinded you. Whatever you were lying on was lumpy, but not uncomfortable. The smell of tomato and various spices hung thick in the air. You had somehow made it to the skeletons’ house. How, you had no idea. It felt like there was a glaring gap in your memory. It only served to unnerve you.

You heard someone, probably Sans, rush down the stairs, almost tripping over Papyrus in the process and causing the younger brother to yelp in surprise. You could feel the presence of someone kneeling in front of you. Was it worth it to try opening your eyes again?

“hey, kiddo. you really awake?” Sans asked.

Nodding slowly, a grimace formed on your face when the simple action triggered a searing pain. You felt a hand on your forehead and you vaguely wondered what it was doing there if it couldn’t sense temperature. It moved through your bangs slowly and uncertainly, as if worried that you would vanish at any moment.

“you gave me and Paps quite a scare. had us chilled to the bone.” The joke sounded empty, yet filled with concern.

Papyrus groaned from a few feet away, but apparently had decided against arguing with his brother.

The hollow, despairing tone of Sans’ voice convinced you. You needed to open your eyes and be present for this. Sleep could come later.

Sans’ usual smile was gone. He was shaking slightly and tears threatened to spill from his eye sockets. He looked like he could fall apart at any moment.

The pinpricks of light in the shorter skeleton’s eyes widened as you began to cry. He stuttered, unsure of what to do. He should be the one crying, not you! You wrapped your arms around him as best you could with your muscles being adamant about disobeying your orders and buried your head in his chest. Only once had you ever seen him look that broken before. You tried not to think about Papyrus’ death in alternate timelines.

“I’m sorry.” You choked out.

You could feel Sans flinch and then gently hold you to his chest as if you would shatter with the slightest bit of force. “what for?” He asked  
.  
“For making you so worried.” You left everything else unsaid. This was no time to bring up his brother’s deaths or the tear tracks on both of their faces.

Another pair of arms lifted you both up into the air and crushed you to their owner’s chest. “DO NOT BE SAD, HUMAN! WE ARE VERY HAPPY THAT YOU ARE ALRIGHT!” A head nuzzled its way into your hair and you could just barely feel the warm air of shaky breaths. Sans’ arms gripped you tighter as he let out a sob of relief.

 

Eventually, Papyrus gently set the two of you back down onto the couch and left to go make celebratory spaghetti. You and Sans were still curled around each other, having calmed down and currently watching a rerun of one of Mettaton’s talk shows under a mountain of blankets. You nuzzled into his chest and mumbled, “Thanks for saving me.”

He laughed and began carding his fingers through your hair. “it’s snow problem.”

You held back your own laughter just long enough to say, “You’re awfully chill about it.”

An enraged scream from the kitchen could just barely be heard over both of your raucous laughter.

You interrupted yourself with a rather loud sneeze, startling Sans so badly that he almost fell off of the couch. Reaching for a tissue, you groaned. Of course you were going to get sick after nearly dying in the snow.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, please consider becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/Kiekow  
> or buying me a cup of coffee: Ko-fi.com/kiekow  
> Thanks!


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